To Heaven and Back: A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again

In 1999 in the Los Rios region of southern Chile, orthopedic surgeon, devoted wife, and loving mother Dr. Mary Neal drowned in a kayak accident. While cascading down a waterfall, her kayak became pinned at the bottom and she was immediately and completely submerged. Despite the rescue efforts of her companions, Mary was underwater for too long, and as a result, died. To Heaven and Back is Mary’s remarkable story of her life’s spiritual journey and what happened as she moved from life to death to eternal life, and back again.

Newtown: An American Tragedy

12/14/2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School Newtown, Connecticut We remember the numbers: 20 children and 6 adults, murdered in a place of nurture and trust. We remember the names: Teachers like Victoria Soto, who lost her life protecting her students. A shooter named Adam Lanza. And we remember the questions: Outraged conjecture instantly monopolized the worldwide response to the tragedy, while the truth went missing. Here is the definitive journalistic account of Newtown.

Gone Girl: A Novel

It is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media - as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents - the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter - but is he really a killer?

This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike

To say that Augusten Burroughs has lived an unusual life is an understatement. From having no formal education past third grade and being raised by his mother’s psychiatrist in the seventies to enjoying one of the most successful advertising careers of the eighties to experiencing a spectacular downfall and rehab stint in the nineties to having a number one bestselling writing career in the new millennium, Burroughs has faced humiliation, transformation and everything in between.

Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story

Chronicling his embodiment of the American Dream, Total Recall covers Schwarzenegger's high-stakes journey to the United States, from creating the international bodybuilding industry out of the sands of Venice Beach, to breathing life into cinema's most iconic characters, and becoming one of the leading political figures of our time. Proud of his accomplishments and honest about his regrets, Schwarzenegger spares nothing in sharing his amazing story.

Double Dexter: A Novel

Dexter Morgan is not your average serial killer. He enjoys his day job as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department... but he lives for his nighttime hobby of hunting other killers. Dexter is therefore not pleased to discover that someone is shadowing him, observ­ing him, and copying his methods. Dexter is not one to tol­erate displeasure... in fact, he has a knack for extricating himself from trouble in his own pleasurable way.

Some complain that Dexter has lost his edge, is more sympathetic. I agree, and that is why I love him even more. It's the struggle with his burgeoning humanity that makes Dexter so much more a fully-developed character. Keep 'em coming, Jeff Lindsay.

They Call Me Baba Booey

Baba Booey! Baba Booey! It was a slip of the tongue - that unfortunately was heard by a few million listeners - but in that split second a nickname, a persona, a rallying cry, and a phenomenon was born. Some would say it was the moment Gary Dell’Abate, the long-suffering heroic producer of The Howard Stern Show, for better or worse, finally came into his own.

Gary Dell'Abate is a nice guy and that comes across in this well-produced audiobook. Regrettably, nice guys don't often make for interesting books. Fans of Gary will be all too familiar with the on-air shenanigans he writes of. What we haven't heard before are the insightful paragraphs about his mother's illness, his brother's death from AIDS and, most of all, his undeniable love for his father. He writes with passion and one cannot help but to be moved by this everyman who's staked a claim in our hearts and minds. Congratulations, Gary.

Mini Shopaholic: A Novel

Nothing comes between Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) and her bargains. Neither act of God nor budget crunch can shatter her dreams of wall-to-wall Prada. Every milestone in her well-shopped life (travel, long-lost sister, marriage, pregnancy) inspires new vistas to explore in the name of retail therapy. But now she faces her greatest little challenge yet: Becky’s two-year-old daughter, Minnie. Her favorite word is “MINE!”

Ok, I give in. I admit it. I'm a Shopaholic Junkie. I know ... it's chick lit, but I can't help it. I'm in love with Becky. She makes me laugh out loud. Her convoluted sense of reality and her warped values are winning character flaws that make her my guilty pleasure. Obviously, in my more sane moments, I realize that no one could be as stupid as Becky's husband, Luke. He falls for her twisted logic every time. In reality, at best he would never have married her and at worst he'd be out the door at the first sign of her outrageous justifications. But I hope he never figures her out.. I say Long live Becky and Sophie Kinsella!

It's rare that I laugh out loud when reading a book. During John Water's superb reading of his own book, this happened over and over and over again. Great literature? Probably not, but lots of tongue-in-cheek fun for listeners like me, who have a warped sense of humor. Don't miss this one.

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic

Upon its first publication 20 years ago, And The Band Played On was quickly recognized as a masterpiece of investigatve reporting. An international best seller, a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and made into a critically acclaimed movie, Shilts' expose revealed why AIDS was allowed to spread unchecked during the early 80s while the most trusted institutions ignored or denied the threat.

I wrote a review when this book was first made available ... and waited ... and waited ... and waiated for it to be posted. It never happened. It shows up for me when I call up all my reviews, but has never been posted for others to consider. This is not the first time this happened - jut the last - since I no longer waste my time writing reviews ....

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